Things to know about doing business with the Finnish

Every country has its own culture, customs and temperament. Whether you may be considering launching a new company in Finland or expanding an existing venture, here’s a primer to help minimise “culture shock” and to aid you in making a good impression with your Finnish clients, customers, and business contacts.

Why do business in Finland?

Finland is one of the largest countries in Europe by area and has over 5 million inhabitants. Its main industries are telecommunications, electronics, wood, metal and engineering – and foreign exports comprise nearly a third of the Nordic nation’s GDP. Its capital, Helsinki, has a population of over half a million people and is often acknowledged for its attractiveness and its first-rate transportation system.

Finland has found particular success in the technology sector with companies such as Nokia, Rovio Mobile (the creators of smartphone sensation Angry Birds), Supercell (the makers of Clash Of Clans) as well as Linus Torvalds (the creator of Linux). Well-known for its excellent standards of education, healthcare, and trustworthiness – Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index lists Finland tied in first place for the least corrupt country in the world along with New Zealand and Denmark – Finland represents a tremendous business opportunity to work with and reach a market of forward-thinking people open to new ideas.

Finland’s admirable education system is frequently described as “the best in the world”, with study after study confirming the quality of the schooling (for example, the World Economic Forum’s 2016 report lists Finland as ranked #1 in the world for “health and primary education”), and even university-level education is free. With very high standards of tuition in technology, science and mathematics, this has great implications for the availability of talent on Finnish soil – you are unlikely to find better-trained people with which to work anywhere else in the world.

Swedish was the main language of Finland for over 600 years, and today the country is recognised as officially bilingual between Swedish and Finnish. In addition, the Finnish have excellent English skills; one report of countries that have superlative English reading and writing abilities despite not speaking the language as their mother tongue ranks Finland as the fourth-best in the world.

The character of the Finnish people

Visitors sometimes find the Finnish to be quite reserved and serious on first meetings; they generally are not very expressive and prefer to keep their emotions to themselves. Therefore, personal questions about a Finnish person or their family may not be well-received.

Finns are generally very trustworthy – a popular saying in Finland is “take a bull by its horns and a man by his word.” If a Finnish person says something will get done, you can count on it; it is also very much the case that “yes” means “yes” and “no” means “no”, and a visiting foreigner may find it best to not say anything they don’t mean. Finns also prefer to work with people they know well, so taking the time to properly develop a strong relationship could be the key to getting the most from your Finnish business connections.

Many Finns understand that their culture is not very well-known beyond their own borders, and so are often flattered if a visitor is able to demonstrate knowledge of famous Finnish people or national accomplishments. In addition, visitors to Finland often also report being asked repeatedly for their opinion of the country, and many Finns seem to be eager to hear what the rest of the world thinks of their nation.

Business etiquette in Finland

The Finnish tend to be very organised people and consider punctuality and timekeeping to be important – if you find yourself running late for a business meeting, a phone call to explain is generally appreciated.

Finns mostly like to get directly to the point, so don’t be surprised if a meeting proceeds with a minimum of small talk and only perfunctory introductions. Broadly speaking, the Finnish people like to express themselves in a minimalist way, saying only what is necessary and listening patiently when others are speaking without interrupting. It is sometimes said that the Finnish are ill at ease around people who seem to talk too much, and silences that seem uncomfortable to visiting foreigners are commonplace.

When dressing for a business meeting, formal suits for men and skirt or trouser suits for women are recommended. Sometimes, the inclemency of Finnish weather may necessitate a second pair of shoes for outdoor use (Finnish businesswomen in particular quite often will change their shoes upon arriving at the office). If in doubt, understated clothing is always best.

The Finnish prefer not to ask too many questions if they can avoid it, and you may find them reluctant to query your business presentation. For this reason, it is advisable to ensure your talk or pitch contains as much information as possible – Finns are keen listeners and take particular interest in technical details.

What subjects are taboo in Finnish culture?

Finland is a very progressive country with a strong belief in equality. From 2000 to 2012 the nation had a female Prime Minister, and there continues to be many women in high-ranking positions of power. As such, comments that may be perceived as sexist, racist, or otherwise discriminatory are very unlikely to be well-received. In addition, when speaking in English many Finns are accustomed to using gender-neutral versions of roles and job titles (such as “chairperson” or “police officer”) and politically correct terms in general.

Also important to note is that Finland has had a complicated history with its neighbouring countries. The Grand Duchy of Finland, the predecessor of modern Finland, was historically part of the Kingdom of Sweden before being taken over by the Russian Empire. The Finnish Declaration of Independence was later introduced in 1917 – the adoption of which was accompanied by a short but bloody civil war, with half of the country fighting with Russian support.

Today, the Finnish opinion of the Russian Empire’s role in their history differs from person to person, and many Finns would describe their relationship with Sweden as a “rivalry” – so it may be safest to avoid making definitively positive statements about either neighbour.

All of the above having been said, however, Finns tend to take an understanding and amused approach to the faux pas of foreigners, and you are unlikely to do major damage to your reputation with a social blunder.

Ultimately, the Finnish are friendly and organised people who have been educated to a very high standard, making them exceptionally valuable business partners and connections. In addition, their strong moral character and trustworthiness makes forming a company in Finland a strong move for international success.

The information and any commentary on the law contained on this website is provided for information and guidance purposes only. Every reasonable effort is made to make the information and commentary accurate and up to date, but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying upon it is assumed by Open A European Company, its directors , employees or associated websites.

The information and commentary on Open A European Company’s site does not, and is not intended to amount to legal advice to any third party on a specific case or matter. You are strongly recommended to obtain specific, direct legal advice from professional advisers whether these be your own advisers or those that appear on the OpenAeuropeancompany.com site. You should consider taking advice both in the country in which you are domiciled and in the country in which you are seeking to open a company. and not to rely on the information or comments on this site.

Universal Company Incorporations Ltd, herein known as UCI Ltd, will be what’s known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data you provide to us.

UCI Ltd is a holding company which encompasses the following websites: Open A European Company.com, Start An American Company.com, Open A Dubai Company.com, Start an Australian Company.com, Open A German Company.com, Open An Italian Company.com and Readymade Companies Worldwide.com. By submitting your data, you agree that UCI Ltd can send you promotional materials on behalf of and relating to these subsidiaries.

We only collect basic personal data about you, which does not include any special types of information or location based information. This does however include your name, email, phone number etc.

Why we need it

We need to know your basic personal data in order to provide you with information on our services, offers and discounts, and news pertaining to those services.

We will not collect any personal data from you that we do not need in order to provide this service to you.

What we do with it

All the personal data we process is handled by our staff in the UK. However for the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance, this information is located on servers within the United States. This data is protected by the EU-US Privacy Shield, ensuring that your information is stored and treated with equivalent privacy and security laws.

This information is stored in a secure account on Mailchimp, an email marketing service. Mailchimp cannot use your data for their own marketing or promotional purposes, and no 3rd parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so.

As part of our integrated email marketing service, we also collect information on user interaction. This includes collecting data on actions such as opening the newsletter or clicking on links within the newsletter, which is then used to optimise future marketing materials.

We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data. More information on this framework can be found on our website.

How long we keep it for

Your data stored for marketing purposes will be kept with us until you notify us that you no longer wish to receive this information. You can do this by contacting us, or by clicking ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of our marketing emails.

More information on our retention schedule can be found in our longform privacy policy.

What are your rights?

If at any point you believe the information we process on you is incorrect, you can request to see this information, and even have it corrected or deleted.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Our Data Protection Officer is Heather Landau, and you can contact them here.